One of These Days Is Not Like the Others [Class Summary]
Last week's assignment was, "There's something subtly different about one of the six days of creation. What day is it? What makes it different, and how do you account for the difference (i.e., why did God do it that way)?" After doing a bit of review of the material taught last week, and before reading the entirety of Genesis 1 aloud to the class, I instructed the kids to listen (and watch, as they read with me) for patterns in the text, and more importantly, when those patterns are broken...because that's often a sign that God is trying to draw our attention to something interesting. Here's a rough reproduction of what I put on the whiteboard:
Day 1: Heavens, Earth, Light
"Let there be...and there was" (3)
"God saw that the light was good" (4)
Day 2: Sky
"Let there be...and it was so" (6, 7)
Day 3: Dry land, plants, trees
"Let the waters...be gathered...let the dry land appear...and it was so" (9)
"God saw that it was good" (10)
"Let the earth sprout vegetation...and it was so" (11)
"God saw that it was good" (12)
Day 4: Sun, moon, stars
"Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens...and it was so" (14, 15)
"God saw that it was good" (18)
Day 5: Sea creatures, birds
"Let the waters teem..." (20)
"God saw that it was good" (21)
Day 6: Land animals, man
"Let the earth bring forth...and it was so" (24)
"God saw that it was good" (25)
"Let Us make man...and it was so" (26–30)
"God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (31)
While there are certainly variations between the days that are no doubt worth investigating ("and there was" vs. "it was so", "let there be" vs. "let the waters/earth...", etc.), for the purposes of our class and this review, I want to focus on something bigger: the rather conspicuous omission of "it is good" on Day 2. For the past two decades, I've been in pursuit of the answer for this omission; I've asked several pastors who have encyclopedic knowledge of Scripture, and have repeatedly sent this home to see if any parents or students could figure it out, but to no avail. To the best of my knowledge, the only person who has even attempted to answer this in book form is Dr. Russel Humphreys, in his book Starlight and Time, wherein he suggests that perhaps it is because the separation of the waters did not complete on Day 2, but sometime later, perhaps on Day 4. However, since it was based upon pure speculation with no real biblical foundation (that I can recall), I find this hypothesis unsatisfying...but at least he tried!
I spent a fair amount of time going through the six days of creation and drilling into this "missing 'it is good'" on Day 2, only to wind up with no real answer. So, was it just a waste of time? I don't think so. I think this was actually a valuable lesson for the kids to learn—that sometimes we can dig for years into the Word of God and still wind up with some questions going unanswered. But that's okay...because time spent in the Word of God is time well spent, regardless of what we think we're getting out of it. God often hides real gems deep within the pages of Scripture, and it takes serious digging to extract them...but when that happens, think of the joy over finding that "lost coin" (yes, I know that parable is not about searching the scriptures, but I think it does capture the sense of joy we feel when we finally get the answer to a long-standing question). Proverbs 25:2 says that "it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter." We're never going to know it all, this side of heaven, but it sure is fun discovering new (to us) gems in the Word of God even after years of studying; so keep digging...you never know what you'll find next!
A Closer Look at Day One
This review is actually not in chronological order; at the beginning of the class, we spent a considerable amount of time talking about the third word of the Bible: "beginning."
Have you ever thought about what there was before "the beginning"? There wasn't just "nothing," as many kids answered. There was less than nothing: there wasn't even a place to put nothing! If you want to get into the details, I'll refer you to Chapter 7 of the first volume of my book, "Jesus" Is Not the Answer to Every Sunday School Question, but in a nutshell, we have four things being created in Genesis 1:1, 3:
In the beginning (time), God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter).
Then God said, "Let there be light (energy)."
I also asked the question "Where did this light come from if God didn't create the sun, moon, and stars until Day 4?" I think we get a big clue in Revelation 21:23 and 22:5—the glory of God provided the light, but since he's omnipresent, there couldn't be a day-night cycle on earth because the surface of the planet was uniformly illuminated (this is admittedly inferred from the text...so I won't die on this hill). So, of course, God had to separate the light from the dark (Genesis 1:4). But how? I'll leave the references for you to look up on your own, but allow me to seed your brain with the following questions:
How did God lead the Israelites out of Egypt by day and by night? What did the two groups of people experience on either side of those manifestations?
When the tabernacle, and later the temple, were dedicated, how did God manifest His presence there?
There's a lot of detail left out here. If you want more information, grill your respective children...or come to class. Remember—I don't card anyone at the door, so students of any age are welcome (so long as you don't make a nuisance of yourself :-).
Homework
Give a biblical description of who God is as if you're telling someone who's never heard a single word read from the Bible. Of course, since you're not writing books, all of your answers are going to be incomplete...but do what you can, and make sure your answer is saturated with Scripture.